What is Europe’s Industry Strategic Direction? Debate Coming Up Soon at ISS Europe

What
is Europe’s Industry Strategic Direction? Debate Coming Up Soon at ISS Europe

By
Heinz Kundert, president, SEMI Europe

Top semiconductor
executives from leading device, equipment and materials manufacturer as well as
representatives from the European Union will debate the strategic direction of
Europe’s semiconductor landscape at the Industry Strategy Symposium Europe which
takes place from February 24-26 near Milano. ISS 2013 will focus on three key European
challenges:

Will Europe’s semiconductor industry find a
common strategy to keep pace with other regions with regard to “More Moore” and
“More than Moore” manufacturing?

What are the critical technologies, new
materials and productivity gains needed to keep the industry viable?

What are the market drivers in 2013 (and
beyond) and what will the semiconductor landscape look like?

“To
compete with other regions, Europe needs a ‘one voice strategy’ for Europe”
said Nellie Kroess, EU Commissioner of Digital Agenda, recently. “One voice” implies that the industry needs to
convene and discuss what the critical issues are. Is the decision between “More Moore” or “More
than Moore”? Or, is it rather to define how
these approaches should co-exist, focusing on the synergies between both?

Protagonists
of scaling say that new process technology will only be developed on main
stream that also includes 450mm wafer diameter. Others say that Europe should
think twice about whether to invest money into scaling when other regions are “miles
ahead.” The debate has been fuelled by the Key
Enabling Technology (KET) initiative which will not only fund research and
development, but also pilot production.

Europe’s
equipment industry must address both issues if it wants to keep pace with the
rest of the world. Europe owns a worldwide
market share of 25 percent in semiconductor production equipment and does 80
percent of their business outside Europe. According to a SEMI survey in 2012,
the vast majority of equipment vendors worldwide have decided to gradually
invest into 450mm equipment — regardless of probable financial and technical
risks.

The
conference will also shed light on the question of whether further
consolidation of the industry will occur and its consequences. How will the
semiconductor landscape be shaped if and when 450mm and the next generation of lithography
tools will come on-line? Market analysts
from Future Horizon and IC-Inside and industry specialists from Bosch and ATREG
will present their scenarios on these and related questions.

Regardless
of macroeconomics, the question of future device designs, process technologies
and new materials — which are needed for enhancing products with more functionality
on smaller space and with less power consumption — remains a hot topic at ISS
and has its firm place in the conference. In addition, the conference will
address efficiency increases and the need for further alliances among industry
and research institutes. These issues
will increasingly become differentiators, above and beyond the classical
competitive advantages, in the semiconductor industry.

The
European Union wants Europe to remain competitive in Microelectronics, but it
needs clearer prioritization of the issues.
That means that the right people need to be in the same place at the
same time… discussing the issues.

At ISS in
February, the debate on the industry’s issues will be lively… as executives
from ABB, ASM, ASML, Bosch, GlobalFoundries, IMEC, Infineon, Intel, LETI, NXP,
Philips, STMicroelectronics, and SOITEC share their perspectives on what
direction the industry should take in the next few years.

ISS Europe
will be held at the Hotel Regina Palace in Stresa, near Milano, Italy. It
offers a unique opportunity to interact with high-level representatives from
the entire semiconductor supply chain and to network among customers, partners
and peers. If you are interested in hearing
the debate — and sharing your perspectives with others — I encourage you to register now for ISS.